Summary: Week 2 of the gospel according to Mark sermon series.

So over the course of the last two days, I have been in Omaha taking training classes to be Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Chaplain. One thing about acts of God or natural disasters is that they may be expected or unexpected, but no matter how well you are prepared or think you are prepared, you never are really ready when disaster strikes.

Let’s compare that to when the unknown circumstances strike, situations that you are unprepared for and now have to deal with, what do you do? In the midst of the chaos, the craziness, and the confusion of life, what you need is hope. That is what we all need when our normal becomes un-normal, when are controllable becomes uncontrollable, when our certainties become uncertain, and when our comfort ability becomes uncomfortable. There comes that aha moment in almost everyone’s life, when we realize we can’t do it on our own, we are not in control, and there has to be a better way. Well, there is good news for you today because no matter where you’ve been, where you are, or where you are headed to, there is a better way, there is hope, and His name is Jesus Christ. That’s what I want to minister and teach about today. You need to do whatever you can, while you can, with whatever you can, wherever you may go, whoever you are with, and whatever you may doing, you need hope, you need to ‘Get to Jesus!’

So what is your definition of hope? Who or what do you think of when you think of the word or meaning hope? You may tend to agree with me that the world we live in is not what it used to be… Turn on the evening news or read the newspaper and most of the stories are either negative or bad news. Negativity breads negativity. Ever been around a negative person? Before too long if you are not careful they will infect you and others with their negativity.

We live in a world that many among us or those we know either now or once have felt hopeless, helpless, lost, unwanted, unloved, not good enough and/or worthless. Let me ask you a question have you felt one of the following:

o Hopeless

o Helpless

o Lost

o Unwanted

o Unloved

o Not good enough

o Worthless

o Bounded by or to something?

These are the exact lies that Satan tries to instill in your mind to believe and penetrate your heart with so you feel there is no hope.

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy:

The reference of the story of Jesus being the good shepherd is alluding to one is transferred to false teachers, who do not care to instruct men, but abuse their confidence for their own gain. A false prophet, one who knows the word, but uses it for their own gain. We know that if a person is not for God then he is against God. It should be very clear under whose authority this type of person is under

The enemy uses people to get his agenda across. Steal – to steal your joy, your hope, you from your blessings. Kill – the wages of sin is death Romans 3:23. Satan wants you to die in your sins and wants you to live in eternal hell and damnation. Destroy – the enemy wants to either keep you from having a relationship with Christ if you do not have one or destroy it if you do have one. So if you know who the enemy is, what he wants to do, and why he wants to do it, you should be better prepared to fight off his attacks. The devil may think he is in control, but we really know who is in ultimate control, God!